This invention relates generally to luminaries and particularly to a low cost guard for an infrared food warmer luminaire.
The fragile nature of the glass envelopes used for lightbulbs and heating lamps and the like has led to the development of many types of protection devices. The protection devices, generally referred to as guards, in addition to safeguarding the glass envelope, also provide protection against objects or people being burned by contact with the very hot surface of the lamp. In particular, some protection devices also serve as reflectors for helping to direct the radiant energy emitted from the lamp to a particular area. Most lamps are used primarily for illumination and many are mounted in hard to reach areas. The prior art includes many types of protection devices to protect the bulb from damage from objects and flying missiles. Each usually incorporates a screen of sufficiently large mesh to allow substantially unimpeded light or heat transmission, yet of small enough dimensions to preclude entry of most foreign objects. Since bulbs need replacement on occasion, many mechanisms for facilitating removal of all or a portion of the protection device to permit relatively easy access to the lamp have been used. Most such protection devices have either a spring-loaded shield that covers the open end of the reflector housing or a shade arrangement to maintain the protection device in position by means of a ring that is compressed by a nut and bolt closure. Such devices are of complex construction and therefore costly to implement. The present invention is directed to a low cost luminaire guard arrangement.
In the food service industry, infrared heating lamps are used to maintain cooked foods in a warmed condition. These heat lamps are operated just above table height and are therefore readily accessible. This ready accessibility exposes the bulbs to breakage and creates a serious problem in the kitchen or cooking environment because of the possibility of getting broken glass fragments in the food. Thus, breakage of a bulb and the consequent shattering of the glass could have dire consequences. It will also be appreciated that because the heat lamps are located at working level and subject to being bumped or jostled, conventional spring loaded devices for retaining a bulb protector in place may be unsuitable for keeping the protector securely mounted to the reflector housing or shell. While many of the devices of the prior art would provide such a secure mounting, most are either too expensive or cumbersome. Consequently, there is a need in the art for a simple mechanism for providing protection for a heating lamp bulb in a reflector shell for use in maintaining food at a proper temperature.